The Package
'''The Package' is one of the seven short films comprising the anime adaptation of the Halo universe, Halo Legends.Halo.Bungie.Org - Halo Legends: Polite Questions Answered HereIGN.com - SDCC 09: Halo Legends In-Depth A CGI film, The Package follows John-117 and a squad of SPARTAN-IIs as they execute a top-secret mission to retrieve an incredibly valuable UNSC asset on a Covenant Assault Carrier. Summary Aboard an ONI stealth ship, a team of Spartans consisting of John-117, Frederic-104, Kelly-087, Solomon-069 and Arthur-079, are briefed by an intelligence officer. A Covenant Fleet is momentarily trapped in the system. One of the ships is carrying an important "package" which the Spartans must retrieve. The stealth craft de-cloaks and deploys the Spartans in Booster Frames. The team make their way past an array of plasma weaponry and attach a scanning device to a to search for the "package's" frequency. Solomon detects the package on one of the ships. As soon as he leaves the vessel's hangar, he discovers an Antimatter Charge, which destroys the ship and kills him. Soon, the Spartans detect the same beacon frequency coming from all the ships around them. This confirms that the Covenant knows what the commandos are after. John deduces that the target is actually in the Assault Carrier Flagship. Arthur is killed while trying to cover Kelly from pursuing Seraphs. The remaining Spartans board the Assault Carrier and take cover inside a bubble shield. After making their way through thick Jiralhanae and Unggoy defenses, the Spartans are ambushed by a team of Sangheili. Fred parries a swipe from an Energy Sword with his Spartan Laser, and kills his attacker with a combat knife, distracting John's own attacker and holding the Elites off long enough for John and Kelly to proceed. The Supreme Commander gives the order to detach part of the hull, hoping to leave the Spartans stranded in space - Kelly manages to propel John back into the ship, but is left in the vacuum. John manages to recover the "package" - revealed to be Doctor Catherine Halsey, founder of the SPARTAN-II program, in cryo-hibernation. John releases the doctor and tries to effect an escape. However, their path is blocked by Thel 'Lodamee, who challenges John to a sword duel, giving the Spartan his other Energy Sword. The duel is fierce but short, and John is disarmed and defeated. At this moment, by a twist of fate, the Shipmaster decides to detach the entire lower hull section and jump to Slipspace after clearing the magnetic interference, leaving the Spartans and many Covenant survivors stranded. Thel is sealed off from John and Halsey. As he is lifted away from the soon-to-be-scuttled hull, he curses the Supreme Commander with the words, "You fool! A thousand hells await you!" Now free of immediate Covenant danger, the two board a Covenant escape pod and are promptly pursued by Seraph fighters. They are saved by Fred and Kelly, who have captured a Seraph. The survivors are recovered by the stealth ship, which soon leaves the system. Once they are aboard, John swears that he'll never let another comrade die again.Halo Legends, The Package Transcript The scene opens aboard ONI PRO-49776 an ONI stealth ship, with a team of five SPARTAN-II supersoldiers (John, Kelly, Arthur, Solomon and Frederic) being briefed by Captain Jiron. *'Captain Lucius R. Jiron': The Covenant has captured a high priority package. SPARTANs, it's your job to infiltrate enemy space and retrieve it. Mission window: ten minutes. The target is equipped with a location beacon, but you'll have to get close to read it. It's a weak signal with a short radius. A local stellar-magnetic field is preventing the Covenant Fleet from making a slipspace jump. You'll be flying in with EVA Booster Frames. When you reach the Covenant Fleet, find the signal, find the ship, find a way in and grab that target. The Covenant doesn't appear to realise the full value of what they've acquired, and that's the way we want to keep it. Complete the extraction before they figure out what they've got. Alright, SPARTANs, you have your orders. Good luck. *'SPARTAN team': Yes sir! In the hangar bay, technicians prepare the EVA Booster Frames. As the SPARTANs don their helmets and walk out, the Master Chief stops. *'John-117': Captain? *'Captain Lucius R. Jiron': What is it, Master Chief? *'Master Chief': What happens if we run out of time? *'Captain Lucius R. Jiron': Then our only choice will be to annihalate the Covenant Fleet, the package and your entire team. Is that clear enough? *'Master Chief': I understand. The scene cuts to the underside of the ship, where the SPARTANs prepare to launch. *'Mission Commander (COM)': SPARTAN team. The moment we break stealth, commence operation. Five, four, three, two, one. Disable cloak. Booster Frames...launch! The frames thrusters power up. The clamps holding the frames are disabled, and the SPARTAN team flies towards the Covenant Fleet. Point Defense Turrets activate on board the Covenant ships and fire on the team. *'Master Chief': Incoming! Optimise mobility! The EVA frames open up, exposing the missile racks and machine guns. The pilots' seats move forward as the SPARTANs dodge the enemy fire. *'Master Chief': Plasma rounds! The SPARTAN team launches a missile pod, which breaks up and bombards the ship with smaller missiles. One of the SPARTANs deploys a scanner. *'Master Chief': Scanning devices activated. The SPARTANs deploy flares to deal with the plasma. The scanner shows a positive result aboard the CCS-Class battlecruiser. *'Solomon-069': I've got a reading. *'Kelly-087': Are you sure? *'Solomon-069': No question. Back me up, I'm going in. Solomon and Kelly fly towards the CCS-class showing the positive reading. The ship's hangar bays are open and deploying Seraph fighters.'' *'''Solomon-069: Their shields are down. The signal's coming from that cruiser. *'Kelly-087': Hang on, Solomon! Wait for the Chief! *'Solomon-069': No time! I'll take my chances. *'Kelly-087': Alright, if we're gonna do this, lets make it fast! Solomon lands his booster frame inside the hangar bay, then leaps off in pursuit of the signal. *'Master Chief': A positive read from the first scan? Something's off. Kelly remains in the hangar, hosing down Covenant troops with her booster frame's machine guns. *'Kelly-087': Hurry, Solomon... Solomon runs through the ship's corridor in pursuit of the scan. While Kelly keeps the Covenant at bay. Solomon bursts through a bulkhead hatch. *'Solomon-069': Gotcha! The tracker hasn't been tracking the package, but has instead been tracking an identical decoy. The decoy is generated by an antimatter charge, which promptly begins a countdown. *'Solomon-069': No... The explosion engulfs Solomon and races down the corridor. The Master Chief flies into the hangar, where Kelly is holding off the Covenant. *'Master Chief': Kelly, it's a trap! *'Kelly-087': No... The bomb's detonation, destroys the entire cruiser. On board the fleet's flagship, the Supreme Commander of the fleet, Luro 'Taralumee, and Major Thel 'Lodamee watches as their decoy explodes. The Supreme Commander laughs, believing he has destroyed the three SPARTANs. *'Luro 'Taralumee': They took the bait. Three have perished. The rest are only a matter of time. *'Thel 'Lodamee': We must always show our superior strength. Anything less and they will exploit our weakness. *'Luro 'Taralumee': Weakness? You have faced these lowly creatures in battle while your battalion perished. That tells me only one thing. You have not the heart to die with honor. *'Bridge Officer': Commander! Two survivors detected! The two survivors are John-117 and Kelly-087. The two escape the explosion and link up with the remaining SPARTANs. *'Kelly-087': Solomon... *'Master Chief': Kelly, look! Kelly's readout shows multiple positive readings. *'Kelly-087': I'm getting multiple readings! *'Master Chief': They're decoys! They know what we came for! *'Frederic-104': How do we find the real signal? *'Master Chief': They've already told us! What we want is at the heart of this fleet! The flagship! A formation of Seraph fighters moves to intercept the SPARTANs. *'Kelly-087': Seraph formation! Two'o'clock! *'Master Chief': Ignore them! Stay on target! The SPARTANs perform acrobatics around the Seraphs, destroying several of them. The flagship detects them coming. *'Bridge Officer': Four enemies approaching! *'Thel 'Lodamee': They know. *'Luro 'Taralumee': Will you run away once more? *'Thel 'Lodamee': They will be here. I shall face them. *'Luro 'Taralumee': You overestimate them. They cannot touch this ship. *'Thel 'Lodamee': I pray that you are right. The SPARTANs dodge the incoming Seraphs, flying into a tight space between the hulls of two CCS-Class battlecruisers. *'Master Chief': Tight formation, now! Concentrate gauss cannons on a single point. *'SPARTAN Team': Roger! *'Frederic-104': Shields at maximum charge! The Seraphs continue to pursue the EVA Booster Frames. *'Kelly-087': They're still with us! The Seraphs open fire on the SPARTANs. Kelly's frame is hit. *'Kelly-087': I'm hit! *'Arthur-079': I'll hold them back! Arthur executes a maneuver to place himself behind the Seraphs. He uses the frame's machine guns to destroy one of the Covenant fighters. His frame, however, is sandwiched between the two cruisers. *'Arthur-079': Arrgh! I'm losing it! Arthur's frame is crushed and explodes. The others fly clear of the two colossal cruisers. *Frederic-104: Arthur! Frederic executes the same maneuver, destroying the remaining Seraphs. He flies up behind Kelly's damaged frame. *'Frederic-104': You gotta eject! I got your six! Kelly jumps off her frame, which explodes directly afterwards. She lands on Frederic's frame. *'Frederic-104': You secure? *'Kelly-087': Give me the turret! An M41 LAAG folds out facing the rear of the frame. Kelly mans the turret. *'Kelly-087': Now I got your six! *'Master Chief': Let's get on with it. The frames continue towards the flagship. The Seraphs continue to attack, with Kelly using the M41 to attack the fighters. *'Master Chief': Gauss cannon charge: eighty-five percent! Kelly destroys one of the Seraphs with the LAAG. *'Kelly-087': They're advancing position! *'Master Chief': Ninety-one percent! The EVA frames, still pursued, fly past one final cruiser. They see the flagship, an Assault Carrier, in plain sight. *'Master Chief': There it is! Despite taking several hits from the Seraphs, the EVA Frames lock on to a weak point in the ship's hull. *'Master Chief': Launch all missiles! Gauss cannon...fire! Both the frames launch their missile pods. Both gauss cannons fire, punching a hole in the hull. *'Frederic-104': This thing's toast! *'Master Chief': Then let them have it! The Chief, Frederic and Kelly jump from their frames which causes a massive explosion felt through the ship. The SPARTANs protect themselves inside a Bubble Shield. Covenant Troops organize themselves and prepare to fire. *'Frederic-104': Looks like this is the right ship. *'Kelly-087': We got three minutes. *'Master Chief': Let's sprint this! Don't fall behind! *'Both': Copy that! The shield begins to fail. The three ready their weapons, as do the Covenant. The shield fails and the SPARTANs leap into action. *'Master Chief': Go! The SPARTANs run straight for the hatch, gunning down Covenant as they do so. Brutes and Grunts fall to the Chief's assault fire and Kelly's shotgun, while Frederic collapses an entire deck with his Spartan Laser before blowing a hole in the hatch. The three are unfazed by the explosion, while the Covenant fall. The Chief's assault rifle goes dry, switching to a pair of SMGs. On the bridge, the command crew sees them coming. *'Bridge Officer': Three humans passing Sector 25! *'Luro 'Taralumee': Stop them! Seal all hatches! The locked-down hatches makes little difference to the SPARTANs, as Frederick prepares to blast another hole in the bulkhead with his Laser. *'Master Chief': Fred! *'Frederic-104': I got it! Frederick charges up his Laser, blasting another hole in the hatch. He guns down Covenant with his SMG in his left hand, while Kelly throws two grenades into a side-passage. The Chief quickly reloads his SMGs, while Kelly, switches out her shotgun for two plasma rifles thrown up by dead Covenant. The three continue through the Assault Carrier. Their progress is monitored on the bridge. *'Bridge Officer': The enemy is advancing! *'Luro 'Taralumee': No! Where is the Major!? Meanwhile, Thel 'Lodamee and his Elites appear from above and engage the SPARTANs with their Energy Swords. The Chief dodges 'Lodamee's swipes, while Frederic blocks another's sword with his Laser and kills one with his combat knife. Kelly sneaks around the three while Fred engages the remaining two in the Master Chief's stead. *'Frederic-104': Go! I got this! The Chief disengages, taking after Kelly. Frederick locks down the hatch, then prepares to fight off the Elites. *'Frederic-104': Alright. The Great Journey...ends here. The two SPARTANs continue into the ship. *'Kelly-087': Fred! *'Master Chief': Focus on the mission! We get the target! Meanwhile, the bridge officer continues to track the two remaining SPARTANs. *'Bridge Officer': Commander, they're getting closer! *'Luro 'Taralumee': Getting closer, are they? Not for long. The Supreme Commander hits a console, and the ship begins to break apart. The SPARTANs, now operating in near-zero grav, continue into the ship, jumping from module to module using the Covenant as launch pads. *'Kelly-087': Chief! The Chief and Kelly continue into the ship. The Supreme Commander realizes his plan is not working. *'Luro 'Taralumee': Break off the entire block! *'Bridge Officer': But Commander! Our brothers are still in- *'Luro 'Taralumee': Silence! Let them die with honor. More of the carrier begins to fall away. Kelly and the Chief realize they cannot reach the next part of the ship's hull. *'Kelly-087': Chief! Go get her! The Chief and Kelly lock arms. Kelly uses the Chief's momentum to fling him to the next part of the corridor, forcing herself back towards the separated part of the hull. *'Master Chief': Kelly! The Chief lands safely just before the airlock seals. Kelly is locked out. *'Master Chief': Kelly... The Master Chief dwells a moment on Kelly, then returns to the mission. He walks through the final hatch, finally reaching the target. The package is a cryotube containing Dr Catherine Halsey, creator of the SPARTAN-II Program. The Master Chief opens the tube, reviving the scientist. *'Master Chief': Dr Halsey. *'Dr Halsey': John. It's you. *'Master Chief': Yes. I'm here to take you back. John helps Halsey out of the cryotube. *'Master Chief': Sleep well, Doctor? *'Dr Halsey': No thanks to their driving, yes. *'Master Chief': You seem to be in one piece. *'Dr Halsey': Maybe your luck has rubbed off on me. *'Master Chief': We make our own luck. But I'll always be there when you nee- *'Dr Halsey': Don't make a girl a promise if you know you can't keep it. Still, thank you. *'Master Chief': Sure. Halsey walks towards a nearby hatch. *'Master Chief': Dr Halsey... *'Dr Halsey': It's not a proper rescue until you get us out of here, right? *'Master Chief': Agreed. We need to move fast. The Chief draws his assault rifle. They exit the room, only to be stopped by Thel Lodamee, who has apparently followed them. The Chief tries to shoot 'Lodamee, who blocks the shots with his Energy Sword. He throws a second hilt to the Chief, who obliges and activates the weapon. The two circle for a second, but 'Lodamee quickly gains the upper hand and disarms the Chief. *'Dr Halsey': John, wait! Alarms sound. The Major looks around, startled. *'Master Chief': We're out of time! *'Thel 'Lodamee': What? No! The fleet clears the stellar-magnetic interference. Some of the ships begin to jump. *'Bridge Officer': We're clear of the magnetic interference. Standby for slipspace jump! *'Luro 'Taralumee': They're trapped in Delta section. Separate the moment we jump! *'Bridge Officer': But what of the Major and his group? *'Luro 'Taralumee': No matter. He is already shamed. His only path now is death...or Arbiter. The curved prow of the ship breaks away from the rest of the ship. The Major is lifted towards the disengaged portion of the ship. *'Thel 'Lodamee': I had him! Commander! You fool! A thousand hells await you! The prow of the ship jumps. The Master Chief and Halsey run for it. *'Master Chief': They're scuttling the ship! *'Dr Halsey': And us with it. But we make our own luck, remember? Halsey rushes over to a console and types in a command. *'Master Chief': What are you suggesting? *'Dr Halsey': What else? We improvise. The door to an escape pod activates. The pod launches just before the ship explodes. The two escape, but are pursued by Seraphs. *'Master Chief': Doctor, we've got company! *'Dr Halsey': Can't you do anything?! The Chief shrugs hopelessly. Halsey vents her frustration by slamming the console and abusing the craft. *'Dr Halsey': Can't this bucket go any faster?! Just as the Seraphs move in for the kill, one of them flies out of formation and destroys two of the Covenant fighters. *'Dr Halsey': What's happening? *'Frederic-104 (COM)': Cutting it a little close, aren't you? *'Master Chief': Fred! *'Kelly-087 (COM)': Doctor, are you all right? *'Dr Halsey': Yes, I'm fine. *'Frederic-104 (COM)': These Covenant rigs fly like rocks. Took us a while to get rolling. *'Kelly-087 (COM)': Incoming! The Seraphs fire on the two captured craft. The Seraphs are about to destroy the two when the fighters are blasted out of space by blue plasma rounds. *'Kelly-087 (COM)': What? *'Captain Lucius R. Jiron (COM)': Welcome back, SPARTANs. ONI PRO-49776 drops its cloak, revealing itself as the source of the blue plasma rounds. The scene cuts to the Chief staring out a window into space, where he is joined by Halsey, Frederic and Kelly. *'Dr Halsey': You really are lucky. You know that. *'Master Chief': Not lucky enough. We lost two SPARTANs today. Solomon and Arthur. And that Elite we encountered. He was strong. I have to be stronger. *'Dr Halsey': We all have to be stronger. Something tells me this is just the beginning. The ship re-engages its cloak and disappears into space. Appearances Characters *Arthur-079 *Catherine Halsey *Frederic-104 *John-117 *Kelly-087Official Xbox Magazine, Holiday 2009, page 94 *Solomon-069 *Thel 'Lodamee *Lucius R. Jiron *Luro 'Taralumee *Unnamed Sangheili bridge officer Organizations *Covenant Empire **Covenant Navy ***Third Fleet of Glorious Consequence *United Nations Space Command **UNSC Navy ***UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command ****SPARTAN-II Program ***Office of Naval Intelligence Species *Human *Jiralhanae *Kig-Yar *Sangheili *Unggoy Vehicles *Assault Carrier **''Resplendent Fervor'' * *Covenant Escape Pod *Open Frame 92/Extra-Vehicular Activity *Type-31 "Seraph" XMF *ONI PRO-49776 Equipment *Bubble Shield Weapons *Antimatter Charge *Close Quarters Combat Weapon System *Plasma Cannon *M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Grenade *M7/Caseless Submachine Gun *M90A Close Assault Weapon System *MA5B Individual Combat Weapon System *Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword *Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol *Type-25 Grenade Launcher *Type-51 Carbine *Type-25 Carbine *Weapon/Anti-Vehicle Model 6 Grindell/Galileian Nonlinear Rifle Trivia *The art gallery seen on Halo Waypoint shows an Elite wearing an Assault Harness. However, it is incorrectly referred to as the Flight Harness, another armor permutation of the Elites. *The equipment used in The Package seems more advanced than the UNSC was previously thought to use. Rather than relying on photo-reactive panels for optical camouflage, the stealth ship uses a Covenant-style active camouflage system. Likewise, the Booster Frames seem to be at least partially protected by energy shields. Both of these technologies may have been reverse-engineered from Covenant technology. *As the briefing came to an end, the Captain of the UNSC ship saluted the SPARTAN-IIs with his right hand. However the SPARTAN-IIs returned the salute using left hands. This may be because the post production reversed the shot. *Despite the fact that people must be put into cryo-sleep naked to avoid burns on the skin, Dr. Halsey is seen in her cryo pod fully clothed. This, like the closing scene in Halo Wars, was most likely done to avoid implementing a nude scene, which in turn would give Halo Legends an R or NC-17 rating. *''The Package'' reveals that some of Cortana's lines were references to quotes from Halsey. However, the line "No thanks to their driving, yes," is mentioned by John-117, who is also referencing Halsey. *The MJOLNIR Mark IV armor worn by John-117 and his fellow SPARTAN-IIs appears very similar appearance to the Mark VI and their HUDs resemble that of the Mark VI in Halo 3, even including a shield meter, although the Mark IV did not have shields. Though some of these details are due to stylistic interpretation, the suits themselves are a variant of the Mark IV armor.[http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive32.pl?read=971433 halo.bungie.org: Re: Halo panel at ECCC] *Before John-117 takes out his two SMGs, his HUD shows that he has no more assault rifle ammunition, but later, when he meets Thel 'Lodamee again, he tries to kill him with a burst from the assault rifle, even though there is no way he could have gotten more ammo. It is possible that he did have more ammunition and didn't reload his weapon until he was in a secure position. *The Jackals seen when the trio make it aboard the flagship are wearing air tanks on their backs, similar to Grunts, even though they breathe oxygen. This could be to protect them from decompression due the damage to the hull caused by the Spartan team's entrance. *When John and Kelly are fighting their way through the corridor, it is shown that the Grunts, the Elites and the Brutes have green blood, while Grunts actually have blue blood, and Brutes and Elites have dark red and purple blood respectively. *During the scene where Solomon realized he had stepped into a trap, his shock expression was seen through his helmet. Even though he was holding an Assault Rifle, his HUD shows he was holding a Spartan Laser and an SMG as his secondary weapon. This is obviously an oversight, as Frederic was the one wielding a Spartan Laser and an SMG. His HUD is seen later on, so its possible the designers simply used a reversed render of Fred's HUD for a relatively insignificant thing. *After the Bubble Shield dropped when the Spartans began to sprint, during the first slow motion section, Kelly is seen using a shotgun. She is seen shooting twice without the pump action. This is a major oversight on the animation part. *There are several inconsistencies in The Package. The Captain on the UNSC ship says that if the Master Chief and his team cannot retrieve the package in time they will have to destroy the Covenant Fleet, which doesn't make sense as there are clearly over a dozen Covenant ships versus the lone human vessel, an impossible scenario. Also, the Spartan Laser is shown to be extremely powerful, with the power to destroy whole terraces of enemies and blast open locked doors. **Maybe the Captain on the UNSC ship was saying that if the Master Chief and his team cannot retrieve the package in time, a UNSC fleet will enter to attack and destroy the Covenant Fleet at all cause to prevent the Covenant from gaining any confidential data from Dr. Halsey. *In March of 2012, McFarlane Toys released an action figure of John-117 as he appeared in The Package. This was be the first time a figure based on content from the "expanded universe" has been released.http://www.spawn.com/toys/product.aspx?product=4527 Gallery File:SpartansLegends.jpg|Four of the Spartan-IIs being briefed on the mission. (From left to right: Fredric-104, Arthur-079, Solomon-069 and Kelly-087.) File:CCS Legends.jpg|A CCS-class battlecruiser firing its plasma weaponry. File:117 Legends.jpg|John-117 piloting his Booster Frame. File:720X405 legends 2.jpg|John-117 entering the launch bay of the CCS-class battlecruiser. File:Halsey n' John.jpg|John-117 and Dr. Halsey facing 'Lodamee. File:Fred 2.jpg|Fred-104 firing a Spartan Laser aboard the Covenant carrier. Notes Sources Package, The